Title

Circling to Scientia: Reading Descartes in Light of the Debate Between Stoic Dogmatists and Academic Skeptics

Department/School

Philosophy

Date

2017

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Descartes, scientia, Cartesian circle, academic skepticism

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1353/hph.2017.0002

Abstract

I argue that situating Descartes’s epistemology in relation to the debate between Stoic dogmatists and Academic skeptics sheds light on his theological argument for the reliability of clear and distinct perception in the Meditations. In particular, it allows us to understand how the argument might lead to a sort of certainty in its conclusion that is properly epistemic and not merely psychological, and it enables us to see how reasoning though the argument is supposed to make scientia possible.

Volume

55

Issue

1

Published in

Journal of the History of Philosophy

Citation/Other Information

Stuchlik, Joshua. “Circling to Scientia: Reading Descartes in Light of the Debate Between Stoic Dogmatists and Academic Skeptics.” Journal of the History of Philosophy 55, no. 1 (2017): 55-81. https://doi.org/10.1353/hph.2017.0002

COinS